Teenage Turbulence
by superfluffball
Summary: Even teenaged superheroes experience normal teen issues sometimes.  Wally's week is about to get even worse when the lines between his Wally problems and his Kid Flash problems begin to blur.  The solution: time travel, of course!
1. Chapter 1

Teenage Turbulence: Chapter One

Eyeing the pimpled teenager uneasily, Wally West fingered the small object in his hand. The other boy tapped his foot impatiently and swept his dark, greasy hair out of his face.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Wally whispered, nervously glancing towards the door. They were sitting in a secluded spot behind the dumpsters, so they only had an obstructed view of the side entrance to the school.

"I've told you like a million times: my brother does this all the time. You can't be a high schooler without smoking pot at least once. Come on, it's not like you'll get in trouble for just trying it." The teen rolled the joint he had found in his brother's room between his fingers and stared at Wally.

"We're supposed to be in class! Of course we'll get in trouble!"

"If you're chicken, you can just go back to class! You're hardly ever in class anyway. Don't try to tell me that all of your absences are excused."

As a teenage superhero, Wally was forced to skip school with little explanation to his teachers. Of course, he generally kept local during the week, so he did not have much of an excuse to miss school. Blue Valley was a quiet little town nestled in the north of Nebraska, and any trouble that happened there could normally be handled in a matter of seconds. Wally was sick of boring monotony that encompassed every single day of his life there, which had brought him to skip Ancient History with his seedy classmate. He was a superpowered adventurer, and school was a waste of his time.

"Fine. I'll try it, but only if you try it first," Wally said. It was general knowledge throughout the school that the guy's his brother was a pothead, but Wally was not sure if the other boy had done any drugs before.

The pimple-faced teen pulled a lighter out of his pocket and took one long drag of the marijuana joint. His face reddened and a hacking fit racked his thin body. Wally decided then that the other boy probably was not a habitual user. A feeling of disgust suddenly overcame him, and Wally flicked his joint onto the floor. He was about to head back to class when his heart sank like a stone; a hard faced man stared down at Wally and the other teen, a face Wally recognized well.

"Why hello there, Principal Henley. How are you this afternoon?" Wally greeted, using his best innocent smile.

"How do you think I feel when I find a couple of my students smoking marijuana on school property? You should know better, boys." The principal's hard gaze lingered on Wally. A brief thought about running away crossed through Wally's mind, but he quickly pushed it aside.

"How about letting us off with just a warning?" Wally's classmate pleaded, "We have never done anything like this before. We were just experimenting!" His words were slightly slurred together, and it was obvious that his argument was only working against the two teenagers.

"I'm going to have to suspend you for two weeks, and I will need to call your parents in for a conference, unless you want to call them instead."

The two boys shook their heads, feeling too ashamed to own up to their parents. The principal frowned deeply. He was always more disappointed than angry when he caught his students doing drugs. They were only hurting themselves and their own futures. It was actually fortunate for them to be caught, especially their first time, because they had time for a second chance.

The gray-haired principal watched as Wally's green eyes silently pleaded with him. The older man felt almost sorry for what he was about to say, but he had said it so many times before that it was like second nature to him. "I've contacted the police, and they are on their way."

A greenish hue tinged Wally's cheeks, as he felt like he was about to throw up. He had never imagined himself on the other side of the law. Now, he pictured himself being taken away by the police in handcuffs and placed in Belle Reve. Flash would be so disappointed. The other young heroes would walk through the halls of the prison and see him banging on the walls of his cell, powers nullified.

"Don't worry, Mr. West. You will probably just be sentenced to community service, and once you complete it, your record will be expunged. This is only a first offense, and they will take that into account…" He trailed off as he escorted the two young teenagers back into the school and to his office. Picking the phone up from his desk, he flipped through his student files until he got to the name West, Wallace.

"You're grounded for the rest of eternity!" Wally opened his mouth to speak, but his father shushed him sternly. "At this time, next year, we will reevaluate the situation, but for now, you are not allowed to go anywhere unsupervised."

"Can I still go to Central City? Can I still spend the summers with Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry?"

"I don't think that you will be traveling on your own any time soon. Until you can regain our trust, your activities are going to be very limited. We'll explain everything to Iris."

He could kiss goodbye to his Kid Flash mantle for the time being, that was for sure. Glancing up at the small black dome on the ceiling that signaled the presence of a security camera, Wally chose his words carefully. "What if I'm needed? I mean, what if the team needs me, but you guys won't let me?"

"It's time to go home, Wally. We'll talk about this later." His mom firmly, but gently gripped his shoulder and steered him out of the school. Hanging his head down, Wally followed his mom's lead and ignored the sound of his father grinding his teeth angrily.

The car ride home was silent except for the sound of teeth being ground, and from Wally's position in the back seat of the car, he could not reach the radio controls, so he just had to suffer through the uncomfortable silence. He twisted the ring on his finger until he could feel the cool metal rubbing through the upper layer of skin. He had half a mind of pressing the release mechanism, donning his costume, and running away to Happy Harbor, but that could only cause more trouble. His parents would probably call Uncle Barry, who would call Batman, who would… do something Wally would rather not think about.

"Barry will be here in a second. I just got off the phone with him."

Wally gazed regretfully at his yellow and red costume and the several spares that he had laid out on his bed. This best thing in his life was being taken away, and it was entirely his fault. Now he would be stuck in boring, old Blue Valley forever.

The doorbell rang, and Wally felt none of the excitement he normally felt at a visit from his mentor and uncle. The blond-haired man ascended the stairs slowly, seemingly in no rush to confront his protégé.

Barry reached Wally's bedroom and took a deep breath before entering. Of all possible phone calls, the one he had never expected was from his sister-in-law saying that Wally had been caught with marijuana. Wally's regretful green eyes pleaded with Barry for a second chance, but the older speedster turned to the man standing in the corner of the bedroom.

"Hello, Rudy. Mary already explained to me and Iris what happened. By the way, your sister says hi."

Rudolph West nodded slightly, still frowning. He looked from his brother-in-law to his son and back again. "Do you want a moment alone with Wally? This may be the last chance you get for a while. He's not going to be Kid Flash for a long time, not until he matures and learns right from wrong." With that, Wally's dad exited the room and disappeared down the stairs.

Looking at his uncharacteristically quiet nephew, Barry smiled sadly. "I thought you knew better than this, Wally. Your parents aren't the type to let something like this slide."

"If it helps, I didn't even smoke any of the pot. In the end, I chose not to."

"Wally, I know you're a good kid. You just made a mistake, and now you're being punished. Don't lash out, and don't be too hard on yourself. This isn't the end of your Kid Flash career, and there's no reason to be depressed…"

"Me? Depressed? Ha!" Wally gave his uncle a goofy grin, and Barry rubbed the teen's red hair affectionately. "But what if Kid Flash is needed to help save the world?" Wally implored.

"I'm sure that if every other superhero in the entire world is defeated by an intergalactic menace, your parents will let you help. Unfortunately, your mom informed me that you'll likely be benched for at least a year. That means no missions with your little team, no missions with me, no solo missions, and absolutely no superheroics at all until your parents okay it. My suggestion is to be a perfect little angel until your parents forget what happened. Maybe they'll let you off early on good behavior?"

"I'm not in jail." Wally looked around at his small room, walls plastered with Flash posters. Everyday, he would be reminded about what he was missing. "Or maybe I am…"

"Oh wait! I have another idea." Barry tried his best to keep a straight face. "You could just go back in time using the cosmic treadmill and stop any of this from ever happening! I'll even let you borrow it!" He had cracked himself up, and was now chuckling heartily, blue eyes watering. He knew that his nephew would never do something as stupid as trying to change time. Experimenting with drugs was one thing…

Wally's own green eyes widened excitedly. It was a perfect idea. Uncle Barry obviously wanted him to prevent the whole incident from occurring in the first place, so they could go back to being partners again.

"Haha, Uncle Barry. Here are my costumes." The young speedster placed his ring and the uniforms in Barry's outstretched arms.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Wally stared at the slip of paper, leg fidgeting. He only had to do twenty community service hours, and then his marijuana possession charge would be expunged from his records. Or he could go back in time and prevent the incident from occurring in the first place. His mistake would be erased, his parents would no longer be angry, and he would be able to go right back to being Kid Flash.

Community service or time travel. It was not much of a choice, but Wally knew that one had much more dire consequences than the other.

"If I'm stuck in Blue Valley doing stupid community service, I can't be out there saving the world. The world needs me. The world needs Kid Flash, and it's in trouble without me."

Gazing out the window, Wally imagined the killer robots that would control the world if there was no Kid Flash to defeat them. He pulled out his communicator, which he was glad Barry forgot, and thought about which members of the team would be the most help in his current situation.

"Now that I think about it, Uncle Barry must have let me keep the communicator on purpose, so that I can contact the team for help," he muttered thoughtfully.

Artemis was a definite no: they could hardly stand each other at all. Robin was a clear choice: he was the smartest of the team, and of course, Wally's best friend. As their leader, Aqualad was needed in the present. Superboy's sheer speed could help him with the physical aspect of operating the treadmill, and as for M'gann, well M'gann… Wally blushed deeply; he would die of embarrassment if M'gann ever found out about his stupid mistake.

"You're so stupid, KF," Robin's prepubescent voice berated his older friend.

"Hey! If I could do it all over again, well, I wouldn't!" Wally bemoaned, looking for sympathy from the other boy and not more lecturing.

"You know what they say: hindsight is 20/20…"

"Who says that anymore? Your grandpa? And I said _if_ I could do it all over again. What if I really could?"

"Are you asking me if, hypothetically, you could go back in time to stop this, should you? Are you serious, Wally? You're in enough trouble as it is."

"C'mon, man. I can't do this alone. What are friends for? You…" Wally's voice was reduced to a low whining as Robin removed his ear piece and held it about a foot away from his head, glaring at it in disgust. Finally, when the earpiece buzzed into silence, Robin slipped it back into his ear.

"I'm sure you and Flash have more experience with the time travel thing, but can't it be dangerous?" Robin's tone was serious, in stark contrast to his usual facetious attitude.

"Maybe..."

Robin let out a strange sound, part giggle and part incredulous snort. "Let me get this straight-you want to take a potentially dangerous trip back in time a few days just so you can get out of community service? Are you high?" At that, he let out a light soaring giggle.

"Rob! That's so not funny! And it's not about the community service! Knowing my parents, they'll never let me out of the house again, let alone into my Kid Flash costume! Did you know that they had the Flash come all the way over from Central City just to confiscate all of my uniforms? This is a matter of life or death! Me grounded equals no Kid Flash to save lives!" As Wally spoke, his voice rose higher and higher and louder and louder until his face turned red like a tomato, and he stopped for air.

A thin black eyebrow rose up on the other side of the phone line. Robin had been about to pull the communicator out of his ear again when Wally finally stopped his tirade. The boy wonder smoothed back his hair, thinking about how he would feel if he was in Wally's place. He sighed; Batman would definitely fire him for good. "All right, Wally, just chill out. At least he let you keep your communicator. So, what do you want me to do?"

"Keep an eye on the league for me and tell me when the Flash is on a mission outside of Central City."

"That's it? Fine."

"Oh, and one last thing—when the Flash is busy, meet me at the Flash museum in Central City, _and_ bring Superboy!"

The last thing Wally heard before he hung up was Robin's childish voice ranting, "You've got to be kidding me! You Flashes could not have put something as powerful as a time travel device in the middle of a giant museum with your name…"

Rolling his eyes, Wally ended the call and leaned back in his bed. Now, he just had to wait, wait for Flash to go on a mission, wait for Robin to call him back. He turned towards his bedroom window, vaguely wondering if his parents would notice the wall exploding if he vibrated through. He decided not to risk it; his parents were much less likely to notice a strong breeze passing through the house, unless that was exactly what they were expecting.

A week passed by, so slowly that Wally felt like running away at least twice a day. During the day, his mom watched over him carefully, too wary to even blink, as Wally read his school textbooks word for word. If he read at superspeed, his mind would be unable to absorb the knowledge, but if he read slowly, his brain would melt from boredom. All the while, Wally kept glancing from his mom to his communicator, willing it not to make a sound with his mom in the room, but also begging for some action.

Finally, early in the morning or late night depending on who you ask, Robin called.

"It's time." Robin's voice was full of excitement; he and Batman had never time traveled before. Most of their villains did not even have superpowers. His missions with the team were way cooler. "Okay. Be traught. Don't panic!"

"Yeah. See you in a few." Wally attached his communicator and sifted through his closet until he found his oldest Kid Flash costume, long forgotten by most. It was plain; his new one was much better. Basically, it was a smaller version of the Flash's costume. The boots were too snug, so Wally found a pair of sturdy blue ones that did not really match but would do the job. The elastic spandex material of the rest of the suit expanded to fit around his larger teenage body, and he smirked at the mirror. He looked very much like the Flash now. The only giveaway was the leaner body and mischievous green eyes.

He was about ready to leave when a sudden, semi-ingenious thought, one he could not hope to ignore, passed through his mind. Rotating his finger in a circle at superspeed, Wally created a tiny wind tunnel powerful enough to carry his communicator back into his hand. He was too far away to fall into M'gann's telepathic range, but if he was lucky, she would have her communicator on hand.

"Hello?" His prayers were answered as her cheerful, bubbly voice filled his ears with warmth.

"Hey, M'gann! I hope I didn't wake you!" Wally nearly shouted, "I sorta need your help. Superboy, Robin, and me are going on top-secret mission, but I'm kinda grounded, so I need you to cover for me."

"I didn't know Batman gave us any new missions recently! Hello, Megan! He said it was top-secret. Of course I'll help! Wait a sec, and I'll be right there."

A weird sensation fell over Wally as Miss Martian looked into his mind at Blue Valley, his house, and finally, his bedroom.

"I'm actually leaving right now, but all you have to do is shapeshift into me as Wally and read my textbooks until I get back from the mission."

"How…fun." Miss Martian sounded a bit disappointed, but she immediately recovered. "I'll be there in no time!"

Wally debated between staying just a little longer for the chance to see his crush, but he knew that Robin and Superboy were waiting for him, and they were there for his favor, so he didn't want to leave them waiting for much longer. With one last look at his Flash poster covered room, Wally tiptoed down the stairs and out the front door, closing it quietly behind him. Luckily, his parents were fairly heavy sleepers.

"For the fastest kid alive, he's pretty slow," Superboy grumbled, arms crossed over his well-muscled chest. "You'd think he'd be the one waiting for us! Especially you."

"Hey! Just because I don't have superpowers, I'm not any less cool. I am so the most intimidating hero on the team! You're just timidating." Cackling, Robin performed an aerial flip off of the side of the roof.

"Where are you…" Superboy trailed off seeing the red blur heading in their direction. His fists clenched tightly; it was their luck that whatever Justice League business the Flash had been on was already over. Wait… no. Whoever was in the Flash costume was much too scrawny to be the real deal. "Wally…"

Following Robin, Superboy leaped off the roof, leaving a large crater around his landing spot. He went over to where Robin was crouched. The acrobat was typing away at his holographic glove computer while Kid Flash watched on impatiently.

"I've taken the liberty of hacking the security system. The cameras are now on a loop, and the alarms have all been disabled. The guards shouldn't suspect a thing." Robin grinned, realizing that he was showing off. The front doors of the Flash Museum swung open, and Robin added, "Oh, and I have control over all of the doors."

He took off the glove, and Wally realized that he was slightly out of place. Robin was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses, and Superboy was wearing a brown leather jacket over his signature tee-shirt. Wally pulled off his old costume, revealing his civilian garb.

"I think we're ready now. Wally, since this is your mentor's museum, you lead the way!" Robin pushed Wally towards the door.

"Who died and made you leader?" Wally retorted at the smaller boy, before realizing that Robin had just given him leadership. "Never mind. Yeah, I'll lead the way! Follow me. C'mon Rob, Kon."

"Kon?" Superboy questioned.

"Yeah. It's short for Conner, man. You were due for a nickname." Wally smiled at the stoic powerhouse, who raised an eyebrow but shrugged.

The three teenagers entered the eerily dark Flash Museum. Displays of supervillains and famous battles surrounded them. The shadows bounced off of the faces of the evil Rogues in odd angles, and their faces looked almost real. It was probably just the dim lighting…


	3. Time Travel

Chapter 3: Time Travel

Robin approached the device, a high-tech seeming treadmill. In addition to the usual speed and inclination adjustment buttons, there was a large, slick display screen in the center, between two handlebars. He reached out to feel the smooth screen, but his fingers were met with a thin layer of dust.

"I thought you said you've used this a lot of times before," Robin said, sunglasses somehow managing to glint with an air of annoyance even in the darkness of the museum.

"Um, yeah, but it's been a little while. It still works of course. I mean this is some advanced stuff!" Wally gave a hard pat to the Cosmic Treadmill, cringing slightly when it let out a loud creaking noise. A conspicuous scoff came from Superboy's direction, and Wally turned to glare at the teen of steel. "Hey, what's the worst that could happen? It either works, or it doesn't!"

"Wally, you just broke the biggest rule of superheroing!" Robin mock gasped.

"What?" Had he done something to break the sidekick code? Wally looked to Robin in confusion.

"You never, I repeat never, ever say, 'what's the worst that could happen?' I can assure you that just because you said that, the worse thing that _can_ happen definitely _will_ happen." Shaking his head solemnly at Wally's idiocy, Robin knew they were doomed.

"Ohmigosh! I can't believe I said that! We're doomed! What should we do now? It's too late to turn back! Oh no! We're all going to die!" Wally's every word dripped with anguish. Tightly gripping his hair, he began pacing at superspeed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Superboy asked gruffly. He was in no mood for playing games.

"Murphy's law. 'Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.' It applies doubly to superheroes. Everyone knows it! I'm so stupid…" Wally's head drooped in defeat.

"So then let's not go," Superboy said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You obviously don't understand. Wally already said it, so whatever we do now will result in the worst possible outcome. There's nothing we can do about it." Truthfully, Robin was wondering what time travel felt like. It would probably be an awesome sensation.

Deciding that he would ask for a better explanation at another time, Superboy nodded. With that, the three teenaged boys had come to an agreement. Wally pressed a button on the side of the Cosmic Treadmill, and it roared to life. Lights swirled around in the air as a 3D display was activated.

"Whoa, Wally! You can't do that! It's _my_thing!" Robin tried to wrestle control of the system, but Wally was too fast for him, pushing him away with a whirlwind.

"I'm Kid Flash. This is my treadmill, so I get to handle it."

"I though it was Flash's treadmill," commented Superboy. Robin and Wally glared at him, silently telling him to shut up. "Whatever. Wally still knows the most about it out of all of us, so he should be using it. It probably won't even work for someone without superspeed."

"_I_ am the computer genius, though. I bet I could figure out how to make it work."

"I know how it works!" Wally interjected. "You just set the time here." He pressed some areas on the 3D display. "And you input the number of people here. And then I just enter this all in, and it's done!" He slid the data back onto the 2D screen, Robin watching on in interest. He so wanted one of those for his birthday. Suddenly, the super fast boy grabbed the two other teens' arms, and they were jerked away from their secure spots on the museum floor.

Colors swirled around the three boys, and they could almost see past events passing through their peripheral vision, but not quite. It was like the events were just out of their grasp, at a place where they could be perceived but not quite registered.

Robin struggled to breathe as his insides twisted and knotted in the vacuum of space-time, but he finally regained his ability to speak after a few moments. "Do we have to get out manually, or will the treadmill drop us off?" He was currently hanging off of one side of the treadmill, he and Wally gripping each other's wrists; Superboy was on the other side.

Wally looked down at Robin, momentarily taking his eyes off the treadmill's display screen and thinking back to his previous trips through the time stream. Even though Barry was always at the helm, Wally always made a point to pay attention to what was going on, well…usually. "Um." Concentrating extremely hard, he pictured himself at one of their past trips. Abra Kadabra used his tech to kidnap the mayor of Central City and bring him back to the 64th century, so Kid Flash and his partner, Flash, had to travel to the future and save him. "I think we may have to get off manually. This is an earlier model of the Cosmic Treadmill, so it doesn't have some of the features, but it should alert us when we're about to be at the right time."

"What does the alert sound like? Conner and I can listen for it too, that way we'll definitely not miss it."

"That's a good thought, but it's actually just an icon that pops up on the screen, so there's nothing to listen for."

For a moment, Robin stared at Wally, sunglass covered eyes filled with incredulity. Wally stared back, waiting for Robin to respond. "Wally," Robin said, slowly and deliberately, biting his tongue to keep the anger out of his voice, "Shouldn't you be paying attention to the treadmill?"

"What do you mean? I don't have to look at the treadmill to know where to put my feet." Then, understanding hit him, like a boulder crashing down onto the cold, hard ground. He turned towards the display screen, the incessant blinking of a red icon burning into his eyes. "Damn it! Red means we've passed it!" He took a deep breath, feeling the anxiety of his teammates travel up through his arms. "We'll probably be only a few days back."

Wally leaped off of the treadmill, pulling the two other boys with him. There was no force of gravity in the time stream, so they floated towards the side of the tunnel until there was nowhere else to go, and then fell through to the other side.

Feeling moist, dewy grass beneath his body, Robin shot straight up to his feet. He looked around, but he was currently in the middle of an unfamiliar field. It was dark, but street lights lit up buildings on either side of the field. The buildings had a familiarity that tugged at the strings of his memory. Unfortunately, the signs advertised unknown shops, and Dick had a very good memory. Finally, disorientation evaporating, he remembered to look down, spotting his two traveling companions out cold on the ground. Or at least Wally was. Conner's cold blue eyes stared straight up at the boy wonder.

"Um, hi, Conner!" Robin greeted, awkwardly waving his arm.

"I've been lying here for at least an hour. Wally is really exhausted, and I'm not familiar with Central City, so I was waiting for you to wake up." He stood up, lifting Wally with ease and draping him over his shoulder. "If you tell me how to get there, I can fly to Blue Valley right now."

"I'm not sure. There's something off about the shops… Maybe we should figure out what's going on first."

Conner frowned; he just wanted to complete the mission and get back to M'gann as quickly as possible. "The streets are probably deserted because it is late at night. There's nothing to worry about."

"That's not it. It's just that we should have ended up at the Flash Museum, just a week earlier, but we're in the middle of a random field. And those buildings look like the ones nearby the museum." He had his suspicions, but he did not want to voice them outright unless Superboy drew similar ones.

"So who put this field where the Flash museum should be?"

Robin sighed; it was going to be a long night…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

In which there's a surprise visit.

Robin and Superboy walked through the city with Kid Flash hoisted over Conner's shoulder. The streets were eerily quiet, even for the middle of the night. The few shady characters they had seen did look like they should be able to stand, let alone answer questions. A stench of pure alcohol reeked from them, and they gave no second glance to the group of teenagers even though one of them was passed out over the other's shoulder. Of course, they probably assumed he was completely trashed, like them.

The shops were dark and silent, their signs flipped to mark the building as closed. One shop on the entire block was open, a small electronics shop with several small television sets adorning the window display. They were chunky machines, with fairly small screens, much unlike the flat-screened TVs of today.

"These are like antiques!" Robin exclaimed, moving in closer to the window to get a better view. "Who still sells analog TVs?"

"Maybe they can't afford digital televisions."

Frowning at the news report, Robin turned to Superboy. "1991."

"Hmm? What?" Superboy asked in confusion.

"It's 1991." He gestured towards one of the televisions. An urgent news update was flashing across the screen. "October 22, 1991, to be exact. The South Rhelasian president's son was assassinated by North Rhelasian forces."

Superboy nodded; he had been learning about this in history class. The assassination had set Rhelasian relations back by at least a decade. "Why would they sell old TVs that show old news reports?" he grumbled.

"Kid Flash," Robin explained, poking the unconscious boy in the ribs, "sent us twenty years into the past!" Pulling at his dark shades, he adjusted his sunglasses dramatically.

"So Superman is a kid… Interesting." If Superman was just a boy, would that make him Superboy too? Conner could finally show him what it felt like to be ignored and blown off. He would meet little Superman and completely disregard the young boy.

"Conner, you don't even know Superman's identity, and we don't want to change anything. Since we are so far back, there is more that could change, and it could change more drastically. It's like a domino effect. If we change one thing so far back, events will just grow on each other until everything goes all weird. Have you ever watched a Sci-Fi movie?"

A loud groan from on top of Superboy's shoulder cut their conversation short. Wally moved one sore shoulder, and then began flailing about inside Superboy's secure grip. After a few moments, Superboy let go, and Wally flopped onto the ground with a thud. He was a bit achy, but he pushed it aside for the time being, deciding to focus on the angry and disbelieving looks coming from his teammates.

"Hi, guys. How long was I out? Did you manage to stop me from doing you know what? Is something wrong? Why are you guys looking at me like that?" His green eyes darted back and forth between Superboy and Robin, but their expressions were set.

"You. Took. Us. Twenty. Years. Into. The. Past!" Robin spat out between gritted teeth. "Now what are we supposed to do?

"Twenty years. That's a long time," Wally said, thoughtfully. "I guess the only thing we can do is rebuild the Cosmic Treadmill. But how are we going to do that? We're twenty years in the past, and the Flash is the only who knows how to build it. This is all your fault, Robin!" he yelled, face heating up.

"My fault? How's it my fault? You were the one who started all this! You were the one who brought us too far back in time! You were the one who said, 'what's the worst that could happen?'" Robin shuddered. At the moment Wally had said that, he knew something was going to go terribly wrong. He had been so stupid to let this all happen.

Superboy opened his mouth to join the argument, when the door of the electronics store opened with a chime. "Young men, please quiet down. You're disturbing the neighborhood. You should go home and go to sleep before I call the police."

Not wanting to get in trouble with the law again, Wally nodded and dragged the other teens along the road. They walked using normal speed, since Wally was so exhausted, until they reached the other side of the city, where the buildings stopped, and the road transformed into a long bridge.

"Where are we going?" Conner asked, concerned that the speedster was taking them on a wild goose chase.

"Central City's twin city: Keystone, home of the fastest man alive!"

"The Flash? But shouldn't he be a kid right now?" Superboy pictured the Flash, confirming him to be no older than thirty-five. There was always the possibility that his superspeed caused retarded aging, which could explain some of Wally's behavior…

"No, there was a Flash before him. He was part of the Justice Society. I think they're all in semi-retirement right now. He's like a Grandpa to me."

"A Grandpa…" Conner did not even have a father, and there Wally was, with a mentor, a grandfather figure, and an actual father.

They crossed the bridge. It was a narrow, metal suspension bridge, and there would not have been enough room for them to pass on foot if any cars were on the road that night. Luckily, the bridge was as deserted as the city streets, and the teen superheroes managed to get halfway across the bridge before Wally needed to stop for breath. He leaned down on the cracking pavement, staring of into the dark expanse of corn fields below.

"It's so peaceful here." Wally grinned at his friends, who seemed too impatient to appreciate the Midwestern beauty.

After he recovered enough, Wally and the others continued walking, but suddenly, a pair of bright yellow headlights appeared just in their line of sight, where the end of the bridge lay. Without a moment's hesitation, Conner grabbed Wally and Robin by their elbows and pushed off the ground. It was almost like flying, but not quite, as they soared through the air. Unfortunately, they had already reached the apex of their leap, and now the ground was getting closer and closer. Conner hoisted the two other boys up above shoulder height, and he allowed the brunt of the landing to fall to his own two legs. Even though the leaping would probably get them to their goal a lot quicker, there was a mutual decision to just walk normally. The large, bustling city was now in plain view and could be no further than a mile away.

About ten minutes later, they reached the outskirts of Keystone City. It was mostly suburbs, but the buildings were getting increasingly urban in feel as they walked. Dilapidated buildings were never a good sign, but at least the streets in the bad part of town were always less deserted at night. They had a strong urge to stop the drug deals and stealing, but they put their heads down and traversed the streets without looking back.

Finally, Wally led them to a nicer part of town, where there were fewer illegal activities happening in plain sight. Here, the people on the sidewalks at this time of the night were mainly scruffy homeless people trying to find a place to sleep or anxious teenagers trying to sneak back home after curfew.

"Do you know where Jay lived twenty years ago, err…now? You can't really expect him to have lived in the same place all of these years," Robin whispered over the rhythmic hum of city streetlamps.

A frown full of frustration came to the redhead's face. No, he hadn't thought of that. Why couldn't one thing finally go right for him? "He's got to live in the same place! Jay's the type of guy who settles down in one place," he reassured both Robin and himself.

They walked up the steps to a tall, red-bricked building. The pale door was covered in chipped, pale blue paint and the window frames were painted with the exact same color. Despite it being an apartment building with many different residents, each room had an identical set of drapes, in an odd shade of burgundy, covering the windows.

Wally found the listing for Jay's apartment numer and pressed the buzzer. A few seconds later, static crinkled, and a tired, semi-irritated voice spoke through the microphone, "Hello? Who's calling at this hour?"

The voice was unmistakably Jay's grandfatherly tone, and Wally resisted the urge to squeal with joy. Same old, predictable Jay. Wally smiled and began speaking the words he had been reciting in his head through their entire walk over, "Hi! I'm sorry for this late hour, but I'm the president of the Blue Valley Flash Fan Club, and a couple of our members just flew here to tell you something very important. We would really appreciate if you would let us in!"

Upstairs, in the warmth of his apartment, Jay Garrick let out a long, deep sigh. It was moments like this that made him want to travel back in time and make sure his younger self kept his identity a complete secret, but he would never do anything as irresponsible as time travel. He gazed out his slightly frosted over window, knowing that he could not let a couple of kids stay out there to freeze. Pressing the button to unlock the door, he returned to his bedroom to warn Joan about the surprise visitors.

No more than a few minutes later, there was a sharp knock on Jay's door, and he went over to let the kids inside. He was getting soft. For all he knew, they were a couple wannabe supervillains who did not understand the meaning of retire, and there he was about to let them into his home while his wife was lying in bed. He knew that it was way too convenient that all of the supervillains and superheroes had decided to retire at the same time.

The peephole gave him the opportunity to scope out his visitors before he let them in, and he was met with the sight of a pair of soulful, exhausted, green eyes; cold, serious blue eyes; and sunglasses, at night, inside a dim apartment building. The green eyes belonged to a smirking redhead who looked like he was using up all of his energy just to smile, next to him, a burly black-haired boy with an odd symbol on his chest had blue eyes, and another black-haired boy, this one shorter with a slim build, was sporting the dark shades. They looked innocuous enough, except maybe the burly one, or the fact that the younger one was wearing sunglasses at night, so he unlatched the door, letting the three boys inside.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Wally shifted his weight from foot to foot in anticipation. Finally, the door swung open, revealing the Golden Age Flash. Though already in his seventies, Jay retained a youthful air. It helped that he appeared much younger; his body was as fit as in his younger days, and gray was just beginning to encroach on his brown hair near the temples.

"Please tell me why I should let you boys in. It's the middle of the night, and I'm that whatever you want could definitely wait until tomorrow."

"We just couldn't wait to meet you! We're your biggest fans! Like, there's no one who admires you more than I do! I promise we're not stalking you or anything, although we may have caused a cataclysmic event that will destroy everything we hold dear, and we need your help." Wally rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and shifted his weight back to the other foot.

"Right. Well, I supposed you can come inside for now." Jay ushered the three boys into his apartment, closing the door behind them. After showing them to the brown suede couch in his living room, he looked to the boys for answers.

"I don't usually get visitors at this time of the night, so what do you boys need?" he asked kindly. Warning bells were telling him to be cautious around the three teens, but, although he'd never had children of his own, his grandfatherly instincts were winning out.

"Okay, so I knew we said that we're from the Blue Valley Flash Fan Club, and I totally wasn't lying, but the thing is that we're from your fan club from the future, and there was this accident, and something happened, andweendeduptwentyyearsinthepast."

Robin rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. "What my friend means to say is that we need help getting back to our present before our presence causes irreparable damage to the timeline."

Taking in Robin's solemn expression and Wally's obvious panic, Jay sighed. "You're telling the truth, aren't you? I was hoping you kids would just be out to play a prank on me… I don't know what else to say other than that I won't rest until you kids are safe back home with your families."

Conner clenched his fists, picturing M'gann and wondering if she'd noticed his absence or if they would eventually return to the exact time they left. Next to him, Robin grinned, feeling like he would have been perfectly at home alongside the hopeful and passionate heroes of the Golden Age.

Wally, on the other hand, after one look at the compassion in Jay's face, felt a rush of extreme regret. Mentally kicking himself for betraying his parents, Barry, and the rest of the Flash family, he wondered if it would be possible to time travel to his previous day's self to tell him not to go back in time. But that only made him wonder what would happen if his previous day's self decided not to time travel—wouldn't that mean that he never would have gone to tell himself not to time travel, so what would stop him from time traveling in the first place? Grimacing at the possible paradoxes, Wally reached up to rub circles into his temples.

"Would you like an aspirin?" Jay asked gently. Disappearing in a blur, he returned a couple seconds later with two aspirin and a bottle of water.

Conner, having been quietly contemplating since their arrival, noted his companions' exhaustion and suggested that they figure everything out tomorrow.

Jay surveyed the three teenagers and put on a reassuring smile. "I promise you that I'll figure it out. As a member of the Justice Society, I went on numerous time travel adventures, and everything always worked itself out in the end. No world-ending paradoxes." He paused, and his expression became sterner. "I hope you get some rest tonight because tomorrow I'd like you to come clean to me. I believe that you've time traveled from the future, but I know that you're keeping something from me. It's hard to trust someone who's hiding something."

And with that, he left the three boys alone with their thoughts.

Robin turned to his two teammates. "Do you think he has this room bugged?"

Wally, who was running his fingers through his red hair, paused and looked at his friend. "Rob, he's not Batman." Unable to see the younger boy's eyes through the dark shades, Wally had the unsettling feeling that he was on the receiving end of the infamous bat glare, although he couldn't confirm it. Zipping around the room at superspeed, Wally checked every vase and every cabinet before confirming that his instincts were right, and Jay was not Batman.

Over by the couch, Robin did not look at all like he was ready to go to sleep. "Wally, tell me everything you know about time travel. I'll see if I can think of a plan, but right now, our best option is to go along with Jay. But whatever you guys do, we can't reveal our identities to anyone who knows us in the present. It could mess up the time stream. We don't want to return home to discover that Killer Moth has taken over the world."

"I guess that's a good idea..." Wally agreed. "But isn't there some part of you that wants to meet young Batman? I mean, he must be around our age in this time period..."

"Didn't we already go over this? No messing with the time stream!"

"He wouldn't know who you are! And we could go in disguise! As long as we're trapped in the past, we might as well have some fun." Wally grinned, trying to work up some enthusiasm to override his feelings of guilt.

Frowning in thought, Robin pictured himself ruffling the hair of a twelve year old Bruce. He couldn't believe that he was actually considering Wally's plan, but even he had to admit that meeting a younger version of his mentor could be very fun. And his parents, they were alive at this time, young and very much alive. It'd be difficult to track down Haly's circus, especially with the current lack of technology, but if anyone could do it, it would be Batman's apprentice. Robin adjusted his sunglasses and smiled faintly at his two teammates. "Jay's right. We should get some sleep and figure stuff out tomorrow."

Conner, who had settled into a spot on the floor, gazed up at the ceiling. "Robin," he said.

"Yes?"

"Are you going to sleep with the sunglasses on?"


End file.
